Why is my reaction the the g-d posts on Facebook so visceral?

I mean these people have as much right to believe as I do to not, however I guess it's because the g-d fearing have had more freedom to speak about it than the g-d-eschewing. It just makes me want to lash out, but what I do instead is just hide posts or block feeds.

My dissent post on Xmas, and even Santa was not popular, and I did get a few likes, but more so the response was icy like I am some sort of a freak. Santa is still wrapped up in the Xtian rituals in some Euro countries...Santa Claus is a cross of Dutch and Greek (Sinterklaas/Saint Nicholas) with Sinterklaas meaning "old saint".

So it was bad enough to disagree with Xmas, but Santa? Oh no. What kind of Scrooge are you? To me if you are going to be Atheist, include all the things.

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More often than not I just block them on my news feed. If you really want to get someone's goat, you can reply to annoying post or just instigate things with links to atheist videos. I personally like "Cult of Dusty" and Darkmatter2525. I know that this is immature. But ridicule tends to change behavior on a large scale faster than any other tactic.

If you want something particularly offensive, I suggest "God Vlog" by Darkmatter2525.

I am not sure I do care, but at the same time I do not want to be as bad a zealot as they are with my Atheism...the old "two wrongs don't make a right" or "agree to disagree" things come to mind. So it's a matter of not being a jerk yet making sure people understand I am not where they are and why.

I finally joined facebook to catch up with old friends. As I have posted here before, I have been an atheist for many years. It is troubling to me that many of my old friends who were also atheists so many years ago have "found jesus." They post their garbage and then act like I am an idiot for not agreeing with them.

I have found facebook to be an exercise in restraint on my part because their minds are not going to be changed easily. I try to use "teachable moments" with some of my friends. With others, I just ignore their posts. I would "unfriend" some of these people, but I have to admit, I still care about them. Many of us still have more in common than not. They are still going to post their garbage because they feel this need to do so. Their garbage has been instilled in so many people that we are still fighting a losing battle. Teachable moments are great. Do it with love and respect. Otherwise, ignore their posts.

That said; there are a couple of people I have "unfriended" because they became sooooo confrontational with their jesus garbage--bullshit--that it was obvious they were just trying to pick a fight. They were being bullies.

Oh, I forgot. Right now, If you fight jesus garbage with malice--most of the time--you will be seen as the "Dark Lord" whom they fear more than their "hell." Many of them do not believe in the jesus garbage in their hearts and are afraid you just might change their minds. Linus fought to keep his blanket, no matter what.

Aside from caring about my privacy (which is why I am not on Facebook), those I would stay in contact with know that I will never be there. If they are unwilling to honour my privacy by either writing letters, calling, or sending E-mail, I really do not care to share with them.

Of note, my supervisor (and wife's ex-hub) added me to LinkedIn without my knowledge. That resulted in my stalker ex-wife finding me and harassing me (and him). That ended when I wrote a letter to LinkedIn demanding they remove me, and moved to get away from the ex (again).

Facebook is nothing more than a giant marketing opportunity that you volunteer your information to freely. Those that value your privacy will not require you to contact them that way. If they do not value your privacy one wonders how much of a friend they really are.

Those who know me also know I am an atheist. They also know that I am uninterested in any religious proselytisation, which automatically gets them this video from The Thinking Atheist:

I've never even had a facebook account, so I don't have much to add to this conversation - but I have a question to ask you: why do you write g-d instead of spelling it out? I have only ever seen that from certain theists, and I assumed it was just part of their whacky paranoid mysticism ... like god won't know they are writing about him if they don't spell it accurately or something. Just curious.

In our desire to eschew all things religious, we should be reluctant to cast aside metaphorical mythology which transcends religion . . . or non-religion for that matter.

I’ve always viewed the myth of Santa Clause as a metaphor for a human trait that encourages dedication to not simply “Christian gift giving”, but to a life of dedication, sacrifice, self denial, work, and to our own “spirit of giving".

These traits rise above the Christian’s custom of dragging them out of the closet once a year, and lighting them up as witness to their own piety.

These are our values . . . values which we atheists should share year round, for no other reason beyond our own humanity. Santa Clause is a great metaphor we can use to demonstrate real human values to children, and help them learn a lesson about their own humanity and the “spirit” with which their lives should be lived.

I am not in disagreement about gift giving, but I am against being obliged to at a set time based on a myth. We will not even get into the disgusting consumerism. I like giving random gifts that are a surprise and a delight to the recipient. Gatherings are important too.

My thing is that since I am in a minority I have to face the cruddy flack from those who aren't. Facebook is as much a weapon as it is a tool, and if I keep hiding feeds I will miss some of the nice things that are not g-d related.

To whomever asked, I hyphenate and lower case the "g" word because I do not acknowledge it, and since it is a noun will not capitalize because of the former reason.

Theists can keep their faith with themselves, they have right to have faith, no problem as long as they keep their mouth shut. Or they can say it to public only if they do so with a clear disclaimer that their faith is strictly a subjective matter, has nothing to do with objective facts or the reality, and that it may be harmful to some people if they copy their faith. Remember, cigarette cases carry warning.

Littering in the public areas like streets and parks is illegal. Littering people's mind with wrong information, harmful ideas, fraudulent claims, etc cannot be praised: it is a nuisance, pollution, and harm. 911 terror is not the only way to harm public. Polluting people's mind is harmful, and cleaning cost is incalculable.